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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Mya Bollan & Sian Traynor

The Grand Designs 'nightmare' Scottish homes that didn't go according to plan

In recent years, popular Channel 4 show Grand Designs has seen some incredible builds and visions from families all over the country.

From urban masterpieces to unique rural mansions, the programme, hosted by Kevin McLeod, is known for showcasing some of the best properties on offer in the UK.

However, often great plans don't always quite work out, with some builds followed by the show becoming a bit of a 'nightmare' once the wheels got into motion.

Scotland has had its fair share of Grand Designs disasters, from weather damage to time and planning delays.

READ MORE - Scottish couple wanted for dream job living and working on shores of Loch Lomond

In fact, one Midlothian property that was a favourite of Kevin's ended up causing a serious amount of hassle, reports the Record.

Here are some of Scotland's biggest Grand Designs disasters.

Windows set owners back £40,000

Richard and Pru Irvine dreamed up the stunning custom-built Hope House in Pathhead, Midlothian, but it didn't come without its setbacks.

The couple bought the site, which housed two lime kilns and several derelict buildings, in December 2003 and the house project took four years to complete.

It took 20 months to get planning permission despite there being no objections, and 16 letters of support.

Then building work was delayed by five months to November 2006 as soil tests were carried out to ensure the former industrial site wasn't contaminated.

The bill for the roof came in at £25,000 alone, while a wall of windows set them back £40,000.

Despite major hiccups, presenter Kevin McCloud later described it as his dream home.

After viewing the completed building, the presenter said: "It's a great building and to be honest, this is what I'd want. I don't say I want many things in life, but this I want."

Roof blew off during gales

Tony and Jo Moffat spent £380,000 on their loch-side home in the village of Kilcreggan, near Glasgow, overrunning their budget by £150,000.

Despite spending a fortune to construct, The Longhouse went up for sale in 2014 for £375,000 - £5,000 less than it cost to build 10 years previous.

The couple's mission to build the house from scratch in 2003 came with many difficulties, including work that took longer than expected, spiralling costs and freezing winters.

"You get bills through the post all the time and just sit there and go, "I can't pay this," Mr Moffat told the programme at the time.

"At one point we did actually put it on the market just because things got so tough.

"It was a balance as to what would make us happier, not having the debt or having the house. But we hung in and tightened the belt and got through that patch."

His wife added: 'It's that rollercoaster feeling where you just want to get off.'

The couple were revisited in 2007 and suffered a fairly major setback when its roof blew off during severe gales which battered Scotland in December 2012.

But it did end up getting high praise from presenter Kevin McCloud, who listed it in his 20 favourite Grand Designs homes of all time.

Cliff house battles with the elements

One Grand Designs episode saw Yorkshire couple Andy Stakes and Jeanette Hardy taking on an old military listening station in Galloway on the edge of a 100ft cliff.

They stumbled across the old structure while on holiday and immediately fell in love with it, purchasing it for £120,000.

Over the course of the episode, the pair faced trials and tribulations to make the property habitable while battling the elements including rain and gale force winds.

During the build, there were some tricky moments getting the glass put in which would protect people from the strong winds.

The roof also took quite a while to put in due to the winds during the summer.

They planned to only spend £250,000 to build the structure but this was later upped by a £100,000.

In the end, they actually spent closer to half a million with the build costing £420,000.

Air hangar house took six years to build

Colin MacKinnon and his partner Marta Briongos, from Strathaven in Scotland, first appeared on the show in 2011.

The flying instructor were looking to build a quirky a metal house next to the runway they own, where he operates his flying school.

But Colin and trapeze enthusiast Marta were forced flog a £35,000 painting just to finish their project on Grand Designs after they ran out of money.

The home, which was started in 2005, took six years to build and was compared to a 'plastic portacabin made from recycled yoghurt pots' at the time by viewers.

With the project barely off the ground, they had to deal with rain, snow, and the worst storms for a hundred years - and ended up shelling out £500,000 to finish it.

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